Sanchez scintillating in MLB debut

Wednesday

Jul 23, 2014 at 12:01 AMJul 23, 2014 at 11:34 PM

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTSTORONTO — Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Tuesday that fresh call-up Aaron Sanchez would be “in the fire” coming out of the bullpen for Wednesday’s game.Well, Sanchez was pure flame retardant in his Major League Baseball in front of 35,696 fans at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The heat all came from his right arm that topped out at 99 mph as he helped the Blue Jays to a 6-4 win against the Boston Red Sox in his big league debut.The Barstow product who is the Blue Jays’ top prospect, was called up from Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday and pitched two innings of perfect ball with two strikeouts in his first relief action Wednesday.Sanchez, whose parents Mike and Lynn Shipley flew in from Barstow to watch his debut, was all smiles.“It’s been a whirlwind, these last 48 hours,” he said. “To have my start like that is pretty awesome.”Sanchez entered the game with a one-run lead and the heart the reigning World Series champions’ order due up in the seventh.No big deal, right? Not for Sanchez.First pitch — 96 mph strike to former AL MVP Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia would fly out on an 82 mph breaking ball two pitches later.Next batter — reigning World Series MVP David Ortiz. Sanchez hit 98 mph with his first three pitches, two balls and one strike. Ortiz flew out on a 3-1 count. Against Mike Napoli he hit 99 mph with his first pitch and then got Napoli out on another 99 mph fastball fly out. Three batters, three fly outs. The second go-around wasn’t too shabby either.He started the eighth with his first MLB strikeout, catching Daniel Nava looking on a 83 mph breaking ball. Xander Boagerts grounded out, and then Sanchez rung up Stephen Drew with another low-80s breaking ball to end the inning.Twenty-five pitches, 16 for strikes. “Pretty impressive,” Gibbons said. “I don’t know how you can do it any better than that.”By the end of it, Sanchez had left Boston batters, who had spent the previous six innings facing knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, dazed and he was trending on Twitter. Catcher Josh Thole said Sanchez’s fastball “felt like 130” mph.“It’s appropriate that the night be about him and his debut,” Dickey said of Sanchez. “He was fantastic. Hopefully that’s a glimpse through the window of what might be.”Sanchez was drafted No. 34 overall by the Blue Jays in the supplemental first round following his senior season at Barstow in 2010. He’s been on a steady rise ever since while Toronto has cautiously protected their top arm.Jose Bautista homered and drove in two runs for the Blue Jays. He hit an RBI double in the first inning and added a leadoff homer in the seventh, his first since July 2. That gave Sanchez a two-run lead to work with when he returned in the eighth.The Red Sox went up 3-0 before Dickey could record an out. After Shane Victorino and Pedroia singled to start the game, Ortiz followed with a towering drive off the facing of the fourth deck. The homer was his 455th, tying him with Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox for 35th on the career list.Ortiz’s drive was his 37th at Rogers Centre, breaking a tie with Alex Rodriguez for the most by a visiting player.Ortiz, who went deep in consecutive at-bats Monday and connected again Tuesday, homered in three straight games for the first time since June 17-20, 2012.Staked to an early lead, Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz couldn’t make it stand up for long. Jose Reyes singled and Melky Cabrera walked to begin the bottom of the first before Bautista hit an RBI double. Bautista scored on a grounder and Josh Thole hit an RBI double over the head of Daniel Nava in left.